The disclosure concerns a rigid duty belt core.
Duty belts are commonly used by police officers on duty and watchmen in security firms, military personnel, etc. as a means for holding different tools need for protection, for inspection, for conducting arrest of criminals and the like. Such tools may comprise e.g. hand guns, batons, hand cuffs, flashlights, and such tools as a whole impose a significant weight to the belt. It is therefore necessary that duty belts are really strong and sturdy in order to fulfil their intended function, still allowing as much comfort as possible for the user who may need to carry the belt and its additional weight for several hours at the time. Belts with similar functionality may also be used by craftsmen and construction workers who need to carry heavy loads over shorter distances and who may use the belt to relieve their arms for the heaviest weights, instead placing the load on the hips by use of such a belt and associated brackets or hooks.
It is also a challenge that, when using the duty belt, the circumstances may rapidly change. For instance, there may be situations in which the user must run, and the belt should in such situations be really firmly attached to the body in order not to bounce around too much, while in other situations, the user may have to sit down, e.g. in a car or for producing reports on incidents recently happened, and in such situations a really tight fit of the belt would be uncomfortable and may even stop blood from reaching all parts of the body, making limbs going numb. There is also a need for length adjustment of the belt in relation to varying temperatures and the like, e.g. the need for an extra thick jacket or the like. Therefore, even though a “standard” length of the belt may be found for a particular user, there will still be a number of situations where length adjustments are required, and sometimes within a second or two.
For adaption of length, such duty belts are typically provided with length adjustments functions in front, close to the belt buckle. While most of the duty belt is typically made of, or has core made of, a strong and sturdy synthetic material, like casted or extruded polyethylene, the part allowing length adjustment is typically made in a far more flexible material, typical a woven fabric. Thus, the part of the belt allowing length adjustment as mentioned, also introduces an undesired weak point in the belt, a point which allows the belt to bounce more during severe movement.
Another disadvantage of length adjustment of the duty belt in front is that the tools attached to the belt may be slightly displaced on the body of the user when the belt is tightened or slackened.
A disadvantage of a duty belt which is difficult or time consuming to adjust, it that the user will tend to wear the belt over time at a tightening level too hard to be comfortable, which may cause reduced blood circulation and a strain on nerve paths that over time may cause health problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,747 describes a belt and buckle assembly in which a clamping plate which is turned about a transverse pivot pin at one end of the buckle has two perpendicular teeth and is supported on a torsional spring. The belt has two longitudinal rows of sloping teeth and a plurality of longitudinal rows of spaces alternatively disposed at the back side of the belt near its tail. The teeth of the clamping plate allow the sloping teeth of the belt to pass forward and stop them from backward movement. The belt is released from the buckle if the clamping plate is moved downward to compress the torsional spring and to shift the teeth into the longitudinal rows of spaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,127 concerns a fastening belt for a dive knife including a belt and a belt buckle comprising a male and a female member separately connected to respective ends of the belt. Ratchet-type length adjustment is provided to one of the belt buckle members in interaction between the buckle and teeth provided at the front side of a belt end.
There is thus a need for a belt which does not exhibit any weak points in relation to length adjustment, which is really strong and rigid and which still allows quick and easy length adjustment according to the user's needs. The more rigid the belt, the less tightening is required to maintain the desired properties.